Bitty, but witty.
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This book is collection of a wealth of essays, reviews, radio sketches and other oddments from various sources, so inevitably is something of a mixed bag. The majority of the pieces - including the fictionalised ramblings of The Liar's Professor Trefusis - take the form of short essays where Fry bemoans the state of society, both here and abroad. What saves these pieces from becoming tiresome is that Fry's observations (or, to put it more bluntly - moans) are wrapped up in both his ironic humour and an invigorating prose driven by his love of words. There is one slight problem with reading the pieces en masse however, and that is that Fry does have a tendencies to repeat his favourite anecdotes, arguments, and jokes - sometimes variations of the same line can be found repeated here not once but three or four times. In the books defence, these pieces were never originally written to sit next to each other, but having been collected a rather more rigorous editing might have eliminated some of this repetition. Still, an intelligent and amusing non-fiction collection, Paperweight is perhaps better experienced in small chunks than as one continuous text.
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paperweight stephen fry audio and book
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i absolutely give 5 stars to 'Paperweight' 1 and 2,for the book and the audio tape, although the audio is sooo much more entertaining, the bonus is the Fry voice surely?..never get tired of listening..his thoughts hidden in laughter,his politics and views on life never fail to amuse and are thought provoking, plus he loves Alistair Sim, so FRY RULES!! make a 2005 resolution
and get all the FRY works...
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Smarter than he needs to be.
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Sometimes I get the feeling that Stephen Fry is still trying to wildly impress an old literature professor or the dean of some imaginary comedy school that exists only in his imagination. This collection of his occasional work gives me that feeling more than his novels or his stage performances. Reading the book, I knew he was the wittiest writer in the room. I didn't need him constantly reminding me, if you know what I mean.
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Disappointing at first
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I have enjoyed all Stephen Fry's novels and I especially loved his autobiography, so I looked forward to reading 'Paperweight' with relish. However, I was rather disappointed. I found the first part of the book (consisting of the ramblings of Donald Trefusis and other characters) to be entirely boring and I found myself skipping pages to avoid reading them. I was much relieved to find that the later articles and musings of Stephen Fry were just as I'd come to expect of the author! Thankfully, I found myself laughing out loud at several of his opinions and ideas and I read with wonder, the many long-winded and unheard of (by me, anyway!) words, contemplating where on earth they had originated from! From here onwards, I found I had to keep picking the book up in order to read a little further, until I had reached the end. Apart from the seemingly boring beginning, this is a book for lovers of Stephen Fry.
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Extremely froody!
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It was very embarassing reading this on the plane to Moscow because I couldn't stop giggling and the American sitting next to me kept giving me funny looks. I especially liked the options Trefusis gave himself for the manner of his death!
This really is a very funny book but take Mr. Fry's advice and don't try to read it all in one go, it's at its best when read bit by bit.
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